2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
[21] For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in
him we might become the righteousness of God.
In
Jesus’ death he became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of
God. In doing so, he further gave us the ministry of reconciliation (1 Cor
5:18). That ministry is not given to make us feel important. It is given for the
sake of others.
We
cannot separate the death of Jesus from his resurrection. If he died without
raising from the dead, then we have a dead founder of a religion without life.
We have a dead example without living power. We have a dead faith without hope.
The death of Jesus apart from his resurrection is meaningless. Likewise, the
resurrection without the death of a sinless life is meaningless. Resurrection
can’t happen without death. Without death there is no way to rise from the
dead. The death and the resurrection cannot be separated. Neither can they be
separated from the miraculous virgin birth. Without the death of a sinless life
there is no significance to the death, or the resurrection. Jesus showed us
what life looks like. Jesus died that we might live. Jesus rose to impart his
life and empower us to live a life eternal. But living eternal life in the
present, faithless, and twisted world is not convenient.
The
resurrection is not just a myth told to motivate us to try again, or to start
fresh. It is not about Spring cleaning, or turning over a new leaf. The
resurrection is about new life that flourishes even as this body dies. The
resurrection is about a radically different way to live. It is about the life
of Christ flowing through us to take Good News to a lost and broken world that
desperately needs to know the living God. In Christ we have the Good News. In
Christ we have eternal life. In Christ we have the power of the risen Lord
dwelling in us by his Spirit. But God didn’t give us that life for us. He gave
it for others. It is time we stop being so concerned about how God makes me
feel, or whether he can fix my problems. It is time we heed Jesus words, “If
you want to be my disciples you need to take up your cross daily and follow
me.” It is time that we say with the Apostle Paul, “I die so that others may
live.” It is time that we stop doing
church for us and realize that we are the church for the benefit of those
outside. It is not about us.
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